Navigating bureaucratic violence in Canada’s two-step immigration system

Bureaucratic Violence in the Residency Application Process: Findings from a Mixed Methods Cross-Sectional Survey of Migrant Women in Spain

“…The bureaucratic burdens associated with residency applications have a direct and significant impact on the lives of migrants. This raises the stakes involved with applying for residency and creates situations of bureaucratic violence due to the structural and legal violence inherent in state systems that maintain social inequalities and legitimise the unequal power dynamics between migrants and street-level bureaucrats (Schmidt et al 2023). The qualitative findings highlighted a lack of clarity and contradictory information, particularly on the part of public administrative staff.…”

“…The costs associated with bureaucratic violence have been conceptualised into three main categories: 'learning costs', which include the effort required to access all the necessary information about application processes and systems; 'compliance costs', which refer to the required financial resources, effort and time to complete application processes and comply with pre-requisites; and 'psychological costs', which include the 'emotional burden associated with these processes' (Moynihan et al 2015;Schmidt et al 2023). The challenges and barriers faced in the process of applying for residency described in Sections 3.3-3.5 carry with them one or more of these costs.…”

“…The stress of dealing with learning and compliance costs are likely to lead to psychological costs, which will be further exacerbated by challenging or traumatic interactions with street-level bureaucrats. In a study of experiences navigating the immigration system for migrants in Canada, Schmidt and colleagues found that 'The feeling of being at the mercy of an opaque and powerful bureaucracy had a detrimental impact on the emotional wellbeing of many of the interviewees, leading to stress, mental fatigue and a sense of being overwhelmed' (Schmidt et al 2023).…”

“…However, this is a phenomenon also seen in the real world, which can disproportionately affect migrant groups. Referred to as 'bureaucratic violence' in the literature (Heckert 2020;Weinberg 2017), studies have shown that 'confusing and opaque administrative processes, unpredictable wait times, costly application fees, bureaucratic errors and a lack of accountability' to name just a few are associated with stressful life consequences for migrants (Schmidt et al 2023). Administrative burdens can have social, economic and psychological implications, particularly for vulnerable groups who share a larger proportion of the burden, thereby increasing existing inequalities (Chen et al 2017;Chudnovsky and Peeters 2021;Heinrich 2018).…”

“…However, in contrast to Lipsky, they have suggested this is driven by a desire to use value judgements to determine deservingness and combat perceived fraud, rather than as a way to manage workloads (Alpes and Spire 2013;Ratzmann and Sahraoui 2021). In either case, the result is the creation of a power imbalance that can have adverse consequences for vulnerable groups, including increased migrant distress and impacts on mental health (Bhatia 2020;Schmidt et al 2023).…”